New Drug For Brain Tumors

A new drug has been developed for brain tumors, gliomas to be precise, and is on the verge of clinical trials. Glioma is a type of aggressive brain tumor. Even though surgery can take care of most of it, gliomas actually send out tentacles into healthy brain tissue which makes it very difficult to treat them. The best drug available right now, Temozolomide (TMZ), is able to only extend life. The average time of survival is only 15 months. Pretty bleak, I know, but now there is another type of treatment that has shown promise in cell culture and mice.

Researchers in Houston have developed a drug called MP-MUS that kills brain cancer cells and leaves healthy brain tissue alone!! How does it work? MP-MUS short circuits the energy center of the cell, the mitochondria. All cells have mitochondria including tumor cells. MP-MUS gets into the tumor cells, is converted to an active chemotherapy agent and targets the mitochondria. The researchers are calling it a “smart bomb” for brain tumors.

Read more at www.sciguru.org/newsitem/18750/brain-tumor-cells-decimated-mitochondrial-smart-bomb-mp-mus